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"You have to budget the number of fuzzy rules you use to control a system. It turns out, you can state the optimality principle in three words: 'patch the bumps.'"
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![]() This is such a great phrase; it only occurs once in the short story.
It appears that the first use of this term is in the syndicated TV show Science Fiction Theatre in an episode titled "Barrier of Silence" written by Lou Huston and first airing September 3, 1955.
This piece of technovelgy is also used to great effect in Dune, Herbert's greatest novel. In the following excerpt, the evil Baron Vladimir Harkonnen and the imperial assassin Count Fenring are having a private conversation at a reception for a gladiatorial contest:
The Count moved up beside the Baron, and they turned, facing the wall so their lips could not be read.
This is an idea that has found some practical applications. Many people use noise reduction equipment or noise suppression earphones or headsets while traveling on jets. I'm not aware of any devices of this kind that provide a space in which noise is suppressed. I don't think anything was available to consumers in 1965.
For those who remember 1960's television, the series Get Smart actually featured a device called a "cone of silence" that looked like a pair of linked bubbles; in keeping with the comedic style of the show, it never worked.
You might want to check out a similar idea - a "hush corner" - published by Robert Heinlein about two years earlier in Double Star, as well as the Fenton Silencer from an early Arthur C. Clarke story. Also, the isolation barrage from Wandl, The Invader (1939) by Ray Cummings.
Special thanks to Bob Bogle, who wrote in with the earlier Cease Fire reference. Comment/Join this discussion ( 6 ) | RSS/XML | Blog This | Additional
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Science Fiction
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